Half-Life | '91 DS 318iS Slicktop | Track & Weekend Warrior

[Digitalwave]

RISING EDGE
🏁 Let's drive fast and have fun.
✏ New article every Thursday morning!
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Here is some of the latest content from Rising Edge:


The Right Tool for the Job
The adage "the right tool for the job" is typically referring to, quite literally, using the correct tool for the task at hand. But what if your tool is a race car?



On Motivation & Proving Oneself
What motivates you when it comes to cars/racing? Thinking back, it was interesting to identify how my motivation has changed quite a bit over the years.




Heading back to the track this weekend! I'm on the way to Carolina Motorsport Park for the first time, and spent the last 2 weeks or so changing the setup on my Great Lakes E30 in order to class-down to TT6 (from TT5). Here's to hoping the car fits into the class better, so that I can be more competitive! Updates to follow.

[Digitalwave]

RISING EDGE
🏁 Let's drive fast and have fun.
✏ New article every Thursday morning!
📲 Subscribe for free.


Here is some of the latest content from Rising Edge:


Tire Parity in NASA Super Touring & Time Trials
NASA's Super Touring and Time Trial classification can be a little confusing, and there are some clear winners when it comes to the tire balance of performance.


Roebling Race Report — Sept. '22 (New Pavement)
Wherein we discuss the most recent NASA race at Roebling Road, the first race back on the freshly paved track.


Yokohama A052 versus Toyo RR
These tires are not often compared to one another, but in the vein of the tire parity article, I set out to compare the two myself.


Built Not Bought (Is Dumb)
Why I don't have any plans to build a car from the ground up again, and why you should respect that choice even if you are a builder.


Quick Hits: Death of Forums + Sim Racing
A short form article lamenting the death of car forums, plus me dipping my toes into the world of sim racing.



Thanks for looking!

[Digitalwave]

Yeah, duh. I forgot about those fan mount ties. I never put mesh on my valance because I have no idea how to attach it without drilling through the valance. I'll order some of this honeycomb stuff since I have two brand new CSF radiators sitting in the garage.

I didn't even remove the seam sealer from my fender lips before rolling them, so they are not as flat as they could be. But eventually the lip isn't the issue anymore, and it will rub on the inside of the arch depending on the ride height and stiffness.

I went down 100# on the rear spring and it helped, but I could probably go down another 100# no problem (currently running 650F and 850R). I would like to reduce my valving by about 20% too, both on compression and rebound, but that is not as easy, well not as cheap, as changing springs.

My car is more balanced than it has every been. It's going to be interesting driving the new twin cam car on the track. I expect it to be similar, but also very different in some ways. It has more modern dampers (digressive AST's), spherical rear adjusters, and it will be running aero ("real" splitter and a true aerofoil wing). Should be fun!

[moatilliatta]

Thanks for the tip, I will check that stuff out. It sucks when a tiny hole takes out a perfectly good radiator! I at least need some mesh in my grill openings at the very least. How do you mount the honeycomb? Do you think I could use it on my oil cooler too?

The twin cam car has a G260, so overdrive 5th just like the single cam car. The twin cam has a 4.10 in it so it might be ok with the 225/45. I'd like to run them both on the same tires, though, since they both have similar E30 M3 5-lug suspension setups. So one of the cars is probably going to end up with a diff change, tranny change, or both (I'd love them both to run ZF320's, honestly).

The rear fenders on both cars are rolled flat. They still have the fender lips on the inside, though. Definitely would get more clearance if I cut out the inner lips.

Thanks for checking out the site and subscribing, and glad you liked that article. I hadn't made many changes to the setup of my car for a couple of years, so it was a fun process this year to really dial it in. I enjoy driving it on the track soooo much more, now.

I'll have to see how it plays out with updating this thread and running the site. As you know, doing large photodumps for updates here takes forever just to get the photos into the post, let alone writing much. I may post excerpts about new Rising Edge posts here in this thread if it doesn't come across as too spammy.

Those pull though "Fan mount" ties. It should, I run it on both.. I'm about to do some mesh work on my valance. E36/46 cars seem much easier..

My inner and outer fender metal is squished together... I have a few dents from the inside out from those jankey hofmeister kink grommets failing, I think from not having the rain gutter & jointing clips..

I think there is some potential for the old rear suspension..Most just ride it out. I have a feeling I'm going to go down on rear spring to try and get more rear grip next.

Anyone here seeks more content, we would all rather read articles written by an enthusiast than spambots..

[Digitalwave]

That's some good info, thank you! I'm running 225/45r15 Hankook RS-4's on a 15x8 +20 without issue, but it's not very low.

Moving to a combo of KW V3 Coilovers with BBS RS 071 15x8+18 front, 15x8.5 +12 rear, so might stick with 225/45 and try the Nankan CR-S as it will run wider/taller than the Hankook most likely. Have you got access to Nankangs? The CR-S is apparently a good performer.

The front will be fine, but I would imagine you are going to have issues with the 8.5 +12 rear when sticking to the 225 width. Plus, you probably don't want to run stagger for a performance oriented setup.

I can run the Nankangs, but the way the power to weight NASA classes are setup, the Toyo RR/Maxxis RC-1 OR the Hoosier R7 are the best tire setups, unless they change the classing / modifiers for 2023 again. I actually just wrote about that on my site, here: Tire Parity in NASA ST & TT. It may not be pertinent to you if you don't run with NASA, but the gist is that there are power to weight modifiers for different tires. Hoosier R7 is no modifier. A group of tires are +1.0 modifiers, and another group are +1.6. The Toyo RR is in +1.6 and the Nankangs are in +1.0.

This week's article that comes out tomorrow is about testing the Yokohama A052 (probably the fastest of the +1.0 tires) versus the other options. The A052 is in the same "class" of tire as the Nankang AR-1 and CR-S. I think the Toyo RR is still the best bet with the current rule set @ +1.6, but the Hoosier R7 is still MUCH faster. It becomes a trade off of running higher power and/or lower weight, or having more mechanical grip. I believe the Nankang CR-S is a copy of the Yokohama A052 (like the AR-1 is a copy of the Toyo R888R), so tomorrow's article may be interesting to you.

Check this stuff out, has saved alot of radiators for us. I usually paint it black. https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Nomex...-22,29432.html

The twin cam car has 1:1 5th? Still maybe too short for 45 series tire?

Have you tried rolling the inner sheet metal of the fender with the roller?

Nice seeing you catching more events! Im dying to get back to the track!

I read How I Made My Old BMW Feel Newer on Track Article and cool to see your still develping and trying new / old things :) Subscribed.

I was hoping that more of the details in the article would have been in your thread.

Thanks for the tip, I will check that stuff out. It sucks when a tiny hole takes out a perfectly good radiator! I at least need some mesh in my grill openings at the very least. How do you mount the honeycomb? Do you think I could use it on my oil cooler too?

The twin cam car has a G260, so overdrive 5th just like the single cam car. The twin cam has a 4.10 in it so it might be ok with the 225/45. I'd like to run them both on the same tires, though, since they both have similar E30 M3 5-lug suspension setups. So one of the cars is probably going to end up with a diff change, tranny change, or both (I'd love them both to run ZF320's, honestly).

The rear fenders on both cars are rolled flat. They still have the fender lips on the inside, though. Definitely would get more clearance if I cut out the inner lips.

Thanks for checking out the site and subscribing, and glad you liked that article. I hadn't made many changes to the setup of my car for a couple of years, so it was a fun process this year to really dial it in. I enjoy driving it on the track soooo much more, now.

I'll have to see how it plays out with updating this thread and running the site. As you know, doing large photodumps for updates here takes forever just to get the photos into the post, let alone writing much. I may post excerpts about new Rising Edge posts here in this thread if it doesn't come across as too spammy.

[moatilliatta]

Check this stuff out, has saved alot of radiators for us. I usually paint it black. https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Nomex...-22,29432.html

The twin cam car has 1:1 5th? Still maybe too short for 45 series tire?

Have you tried rolling the inner sheet metal of the fender with the roller?

Nice seeing you catching more events! Im dying to get back to the track!

I read How I Made My Old BMW Feel Newer on Track Article and cool to see your still develping and trying new / old things :) Subscribed.

I was hoping that more of the details in the article would have been in your thread.

[AusScare]

That's some good info, thank you! I'm running 225/45r15 Hankook RS-4's on a 15x8 +20 without issue, but it's not very low.

Moving to a combo of KW V3 Coilovers with BBS RS 071 15x8+18 front, 15x8.5 +12 rear, so might stick with 225/45 and try the Nankan CR-S as it will run wider/taller than the Hankook most likely. Have you got access to Nankangs? The CR-S is apparently a good performer.

[Digitalwave]

Fair enough. Any rubbing issues on street or track with the 50 profile tires?

This is probably TMI, but fitment advise is useless without the entire picture.

I've found that in order to fit very wide tires with stock fenders, it is much easier to do so with high offset wheels so you can play with spacers.

In the front, the issue is clearance to the strut tube. In the rear, the issue is clearance to the fender lip. Do to caster/camber sweep in the front, you can practically run the tire outside of the fender and still not rub on the track (it could possibly rub with the wheel turned going into a steep driveway or something like that, especially if your suspension is soft). With the rear, you need a little bit of static clearance or it's going to either rub on the fender lip or on the inside/inner top of the fender flare, depending on your ride height and suspension stiffness.

This is the rear clearance with the 225/50-15 Toyo RR's. It's about 3mm, but it never rubs.







This was the clearance with the 225/40-17 Hoosiers (these were Conti slicks but are the same as A7/R7):






After you've rolled the fender lips enough that the tires don't rub on the fender anymore, they'll rub on the inside. It's kind of hard to notice in these photos but there is a bump inside the rear fenders, right around the top/center, where the wheel will rub on compression. The bumps are on both sides of the car. I heated mine up with a torch (to soften the metal) and flattened them out with a sledge hammer, and then repainted with undercoating. The pictures are the **before**, so you can see where the undercoated was rubbed off.

[AusScare]

I've never run 225/45-15 before. It's an inch undersized, and I think it looks goofy and it's too short for the diff I run (a 4.45). My top speed with a 24" diameter tire is about 135mph, and I hit near that on several tracks. I'd have to change diffs to run the 45 sidewall. I may try it on the new grey car at some point, as that one has a 4.10 in it.

Fair enough. Any rubbing issues on street or track with the 50 profile tires?

[Digitalwave]

Cars are looking great! How do you find running 225/50r15's vs 225/45? You mentioned fitment issues with the Hoosiers, but other brands run without issue on 225/50?

I've never run 225/45-15 before. It's an inch undersized, and I think it looks goofy and it's too short for the diff I run (a 4.45). My top speed with a 24" diameter tire is about 135mph, and I hit near that on several tracks. I'd have to change diffs to run the 45 sidewall. I may try it on the new grey car at some point, as that one has a 4.10 in it.

[AusScare]

Cars are looking great! How do you find running 225/50r15's vs 225/45? You mentioned fitment issues with the Hoosiers, but other brands run without issue on 225/50?

[Digitalwave]

RISING EDGE
Let's drive fast and have fun.


Last but not least, this summer I started up a weekly newsletter/publication called RISING EDGE. This journal of sorts will explore topics that I have been researching, refining, mulling over, or just simply want to share with the world. The ideas and stories will generally revolve around cars, with a focus on building and track use, but topics will likely wander into other areas as well, such as personal improvement, training/fitness, contentment, influences, and who knows what else. There is also the potential to feature interviews/profiles of other drivers, builders, and industry insiders, or to have guest-posts authored by the same types.

To date I already have 10 weeks of articles up on the site, and a new article is published every week on Thursday morning.

You can find the articles online at risingxedge.com and there you can also find the link to sign up for the email newsletter if you like what you see. All of it is totally free.

Here are the social accounts as well, if you want to easily stay in the loop: Instagram, YouTube.

Thanks for checking it out!

[Digitalwave]

Photos from Road Atlanta in June 2022.

[Digitalwave]

Photos from Charlotte Motor Speedway in July 2022.

[Digitalwave]

Kicking off an update to catch up from the summer time. Some of these are probably a bit out of order due to Flickr never seeming to upload stuff in the correct sequence.


Starting off with an update on the new car. I've done some work on and off, but haven't really finished it up yet. Still remaining are checking out the brakes, rolling the passenger's side fender more, and finishing up a full fluid change (still have to refill and bleed the coolant).









Catch can mounting location, and working on a new intake setup. Also redid all of the vacuum hoses including the brake booster line and check valve.







All new fuses and fixing up some questionable wiring in the engine bay. I still don't really understand what was going on with the rats nest by the passenger's side strut tower. It was a relay base vampire clipped to wires, then some spade connectors stuck into the relay base. I hope this was some sort of track-side fix that they forgot to fix properly later on!
















The car already had a Painless Wiring secondary fuse box for accessories, so I redid some of those and documented what was what, and put in the proper size fuses. Then cleaned up the cabin side of the wiring.














New intake setup in process.












Interior is mostly done, I just need to mount the CEL, ABS, and BAT light bulbs in the radio delete blank panel.










Put some 318iS foam hood insulation on:










Drink bottles installed on both cars. Gotta stay hydrated yo.







At Road Atlanta in June.















Prepping for Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval in August.










Bought even more wheels...














I keep trying to fit these 225/50-15 Hoosier R7's but I can't get them to go. You can see how much more bulky and bulbous the sidewall is compared to the same size Toyo RR.













It's always funny to me that such a small spring can be so strong and stiff.






Getting ready for Roebling Road in September. We had a lot of entries so I bought new tires and tried to lighten the car some more to be more competitive. Was able to remove another ~30lbs from the car by removing the exhaust heat shields, glove box, and the door glass and power motors. Plus ran a bit less fuel than normal. Bought the usual Toyo RR and a new set of Yokohama A052s (which I didn't like, more on that later).












On the drive to the track my trailer was shaking way more than normal. I pulled off once and couldn't find anything wrong. Finally pulled over again and noticed one of the tires had thrown a belt and was egg shaped. Changed it without any drama and got on my way again.

















Had a really good weekend at Roebling, drove well and had a lot of fun with friends. There was a lot of competition in TT5 which added to the excitement.

I did notice my car was leaking something when I was loading it onto the trailer at the end of the event. Turns out there was a whole in the front size of the radiator, probably from taking a rock or something kicked up by a car in front of me. Thankfully it didn't affect my weekend at all!